Improvement in projectiles for rifled ordnance



C. W. SMALL.

Projectile.

Patented Mar. 4, 1862.

W:tnesse s.

l I UNrTnn STATES PATENT FFIQEO CHARLES \V. SMALL, OF BANGOR, MAINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,596, dated March 4,1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. SMA LL, of Bangor, in the county ofPenobscot and State of Maine, have inventeda new and useful Improvementin Projectiles for Rifled and other Ordnance and Fire-Arms; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is aside view of a projectile with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the same.Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the packing-strips of flexible metal,showing its form before application to the projectile.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in furnishing an elongated projectile with apacking formed of a number of strips of wrought-iron, copper, or othertough but flexible metal or material, partly embedded in the metal ofwhich the projectile is composed, and lapping each other on the outsideof the projectile in such manner as to form around the rear thereof atube, which is divided into sections, and capable of being expandedagainst the bore of the gun by means of the pressure of the gases of thegunpowder against its interior, and so made to prevent windage, and inthe case of rifled guns, made to fit the rifle-grooves and obtain forthe projectile a rotary motion, which is preserved, in a great degree,during the flight of the projectile by the further expansion of thesections of the tube after the discharge from the gun has taken place,and the consequent pressure of the spirally-formed edges of the saidsections against the atmosphere.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A is the body of the projectile, which may be either a solid shot or ashell, and which I prefer to make of conoidal form at its rear as wellas at its front end.

a b a b are the strips of metal which constitute the packing. The innerportions, a a,

of these strips, which are partly embedded in the body B, are arrangedradially to the axis of the projectile; but the outer portions, b b, arebent over the body A in such manner as to overlap each other and formsections of a tube of almost perfect cylindrical form, covering the rearend of the body A. The outer edges, 5 5, of the said strips are taperedor curved in such a manner that when bent over the adjacent strips theypresent a spiral or nearly spiral surface.

Fig. 4 shows the form of the strip before it is bent in the line 6 toform the radial and tubular portions.

The simplest way of applying the strips a I) a b is to place them arounda core in the mold in which the body A is to be cast, before the metalof which the body is to be formed is poured therein; but thisnecessitates the use for the strips of a metal less fusible than that ofwhich the body is cast, so that in a castiron projectile the stripsshould be of wrought or sheet iron.. The body may, however, be cast withgrooves for the reception of the strips, and the strips driven intightly and secured by riveting or calking the inner edges, which may bepresented in a hole, 0, cored in the center of the body, as shown inFig. 2.

The tube formed by the portions I) b of the strips is small enough toenter the gun easily in loading. \Vhen the charge is fired, the gasresulting from its explosion presses against the several sections 2) bin such manner as to expand the tube against the bore of the gun, sothat it fits closely and prevents windage, and when the gun is rifledobtains the rotary motion of the projectile. As the projectile isleaving the gun, and before the gases have escaped from it, the sectionsbb are pressed outward still more, and to some extent opened, so thatthey constitute wings, and their edges, being set spirally in adirection to correspond with the rifling of the gun, are caused to comein contact with the air, to aid in continuing the rotary motion of theprojectile produced by the rifling of the gun.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

Furnishing a projectile with a packing formed of strips to b a b offlexible metal, partly embedded in the metal of which the projectile isformed, and partly lapping each other on the exterior of the projectilein such manner as to form an expanding tube, substantially as and forthe purpose herein specified.

CHARLES IV. SMALL.

\Vitnesses:

WARREN L. ALDEN, HENRY M. SMALL.

